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Basketball League of Amazing Benchwarmers (BLAB): Regular Season, Stage 2

Posted by Neil Paine on May 7, 2010

That's right, it's time once again to pay tribute to the fine journeymen of the Basketball League of Amazing Benchwarmers, one of the finest fictional basketball institutions founded in late April of 2010. For those who have no clue what this is, it's a fantasy league I put together that's named after the legendary Uwe Blab... In a nutshell, BLAB takes some choice scrubs from the past and gives them their own 6-team league, headlined by team captains Greg Kite, Larry Krystkowiak, Kevin Duckworth, Kurt Rambis, Joe Wolf, and Paul Mokeski. The season is 30 games per team, and outcomes are determined by the career Win Shares per 48 min. of the players on each roster (randomized using the players' seasonal standard deviations of offensive and defensive WS/48). The top 3 teams in the league table make the playoffs, with the eventual winner taking home the prestigious Uwe Blab Championship Trophy.

The last time we checked in with BLAB, the Joe Wolf-led Lone Wolfs were 8-2, sparked by the outstanding play of Mario Elie, as well as Chris Gatling off the bench. However, the Krystkowiak Special Ks were hot on their trail, just a game back at 7-3, and Team Mokeski was 2 games behind at 6-2. That was 10 games ago; here are the results since then:

TmG# LgG# Home Team Away Team Winner
11 31 Special Ks Duckworth Ducks Special Ks
11 32 Kite's Flyers Rambos Kite's Flyers
11 33 Team Mokeski Lone Wolfs Team Mokeski
12 34 Duckworth Ducks Rambos Duckworth Ducks
12 35 Lone Wolfs Kite's Flyers Lone Wolfs
12 36 Special Ks Team Mokeski Special Ks
13 37 Rambos Special Ks Rambos
13 38 Lone Wolfs Duckworth Ducks Duckworth Ducks
13 39 Team Mokeski Kite's Flyers Team Mokeski
14 40 Kite's Flyers Special Ks Special Ks
14 41 Duckworth Ducks Team Mokeski Duckworth Ducks
14 42 Rambos Lone Wolfs Lone Wolfs
15 43 Duckworth Ducks Kite's Flyers Duckworth Ducks
15 44 Special Ks Lone Wolfs Special Ks
15 45 Team Mokeski Rambos Team Mokeski
16 46 Duckworth Ducks Special Ks Special Ks
16 47 Rambos Kite's Flyers Kite's Flyers
16 48 Lone Wolfs Team Mokeski Lone Wolfs
17 49 Rambos Duckworth Ducks Rambos
17 50 Kite's Flyers Lone Wolfs Kite's Flyers
17 51 Team Mokeski Special Ks Special Ks
18 52 Special Ks Rambos Special Ks
18 53 Duckworth Ducks Lone Wolfs Lone Wolfs
18 54 Kite's Flyers Team Mokeski Kite's Flyers
19 55 Special Ks Kite's Flyers Special Ks
19 56 Team Mokeski Duckworth Ducks Team Mokeski
19 57 Lone Wolfs Rambos Lone Wolfs
20 58 Kite's Flyers Duckworth Ducks Duckworth Ducks
20 59 Lone Wolfs Special Ks Special Ks
20 60 Rambos Team Mokeski Rambos

Over the past 10 games, the once-scorching Lone Wolfs have cooled off considerably, going 5-5 and allowing the Special Ks to overtake them for first place:

Team Abrv W L Wpct GB
Special Ks SPK 16 4 0.800
Lone Wolfs WLF 13 7 0.650 3
Team Mokeski MOK 10 10 0.500 6
Duckworth Ducks DWD 9 11 0.450 7
Kite's Flyers KFL 7 13 0.350 9
Rambos RAM 5 15 0.250 11

The charge by the Special Ks was led by the tandem of PG Mike Wilks and Wing Ira Newble, who combined for 3.6 Win Shares and were instrumental in the Ks' two victories over the Wolfs. The Special Ks have now won 9 of their last 10 games, and have a stranglehold on the #1 seed going into the BLAB Playoffs. Here are the updated team rosters and Win Shares through 20 games per team:

Team Team playerID Pos MP WS
DWD Kevin Duckworth duckwke01 Big 643 1.9
DWD Jared Jeffries jeffrja01 Wing 609 1.0
DWD Dave Corzine corzida01 Big 609 1.1
DWD T.R. Dunn dunntr01 Wing 608 1.2
DWD Charles Jones jonesch03 Point 501 0.0
DWD Bob Wilson wilsobo01 Point 459 0.1
DWD Jan Van Breda Kolff vanbrja01 Wing 413 1.2
DWD Randy Breuer breuera01 Big 377 1.1
DWD Keith Askins askinke01 Wing 290 0.9
DWD Scott Hastings hastisc01 Big 213 0.3
DWD Tree Rollins rollitr01 Big 40 0.1
DWD Wayne Cooper coopewa01 Big 39 0.1
KFL Willie Burton burtowi01 Wing 578 0.5
KFL Chucky Brown brownch01 Wing 533 1.7
KFL Greg Kite kitegr01 Big 512 0.8
KFL Barry Orms ormsba01 Point 508 -0.4
KFL Popeye Jones jonespo01 Big 504 1.8
KFL Mark Madsen madsema01 Big 486 1.1
KFL Al Masino masinal01 Point 452 -0.6
KFL Quinton Ross rossqu01 Wing 413 0.5
KFL Jim Loscutoff loscuji01 Wing 397 0.2
KFL Cherokee Parks parksch02 Big 339 1.2
KFL Mark West westma01 Big 47 0.2
KFL Ed Nealy nealyed01 Big 32 0.1
MOK Jim Jackson jacksji01 Wing 760 1.1
MOK Kenny McIntosh mcintke01 Wing 575 0.2
MOK Damon Jones jonesda01 Point 570 2.1
MOK Adonal Foyle foylead01 Big 538 0.9
MOK Paul Mokeski mokespa01 Big 506 0.8
MOK Jon Koncak koncajo01 Big 485 1.3
MOK Eric Snow snower01 Point 390 1.2
MOK David Wood woodda01 Big 312 1.0
MOK James Hardy hardyja01 Wing 303 0.6
MOK Corky Calhoun calhoco01 Wing 282 0.7
MOK James Edwards edwarja01 Big 46 0.2
MOK Carl Herrera herreca01 Big 33 0.1
RAM Brian Shaw shawbr01 Point 604 1.0
RAM George Lynch lynchge01 Wing 602 0.7
RAM Kurt Rambis rambiku01 Big 546 1.1
RAM Chris Dudley dudlech02 Big 531 0.7
RAM Brian Scalabrine scalabr01 Big 504 0.1
RAM Bob McCann mccanbo01 Wing 501 0.2
RAM Michael Curry currymi01 Wing 412 0.7
RAM Chuck Cooper coopech01 Wing 405 0.3
RAM Junior Harrington harriju01 Point 356 0.0
RAM Dwayne Schintzius schindw01 Big 259 0.0
RAM James Donaldson donalja01 Big 58 0.2
RAM Jack Haley haleyja01 Big 21 0.0
SPK Larry Krystkowiak krystla01 Big 586 1.9
SPK Ira Newble newblir01 Wing 565 1.9
SPK Anthony Johnson johnsan02 Point 559 1.7
SPK Anthony Bowie bowiean01 Wing 541 1.5
SPK Luther Rackley rackllu01 Big 518 1.3
SPK Thabo Sefolosha sefolth01 Wing 426 1.4
SPK Mike Wilks wilksmi01 Point 401 2.7
SPK Earl Cureton curetea01 Big 399 0.3
SPK Tal Skinner skinnta01 Wing 388 1.0
SPK Will Perdue perduwi01 Big 338 2.1
SPK Brad Lohaus lohaubr01 Big 40 0.1
SPK Corie Blount blounco01 Big 39 0.1
WLF Chris Gatling gatlich01 Big 686 2.9
WLF Mario Elie eliema01 Wing 642 3.2
WLF Chucky Atkins atkinch01 Point 633 2.3
WLF Danny Vranes vraneda01 Wing 574 1.6
WLF Joe Wolf wolfjo01 Big 524 -0.4
WLF Chuck Nevitt nevitch01 Big 491 1.1
WLF Wardell Jackson jackswa01 Wing 367 0.2
WLF Dominic McGuire mcguido01 Wing 337 0.4
WLF Mike James jamesmi01 Point 327 1.1
WLF Tom Copa copato01 Big 140 0.4
WLF Tim McCormick mccorti01 Big 42 0.1
WLF Manute Bol bolma01 Big 37 0.1

The Lone Wolfs are still being powered by Mario Elie, whose 3.2 Win Shares lead the league, but a strong showing by Wilks vaulted him into the MVP discussion as well -- although in fairness, it was a team effort by the Special Ks, who got solid production from Anthony Johnson, Anthony Bowie, Larry Krystkowiak, Will Perdue, and Luther Rackley in addition to Wilks and Newble. Here are the MVP leaders so far:

Team Pos Team MP WS
WLF Wing Mario Elie 642 3.2
WLF Big Chris Gatling 686 2.9
SPK Point Mike Wilks 401 2.7
WLF Point Chucky Atkins 633 2.3
SPK Big Will Perdue 338 2.1
MOK Point Damon Jones 570 2.1
SPK Big Larry Krystkowiak 586 1.9
DWD Big Kevin Duckworth 643 1.9
SPK Wing Ira Newble 565 1.9
KFL Big Popeye Jones 504 1.8

And finally, here are the Maximum Likelihood Ratings for the BLAB through 2/3 of the season:

Team MLE
Special Ks 1.40483
Lone Wolfs 0.65556
Team Mokeski -0.00929
Duckworth Ducks -0.22714
Kite's Flyers -0.67258
Rambos -1.15138
HCA 0.84324

Check back soon for the thrilling conclusion of the BLAB regular season, and the playoff matchups!

7 Responses to “Basketball League of Amazing Benchwarmers (BLAB): Regular Season, Stage 2”

  1. Ian Says:

    I've been longing for the return of BLAB!

  2. Jeff James Says:

    Uwe, or the scrubs league?
    At least Chuck Nevitt is regressing to the norm

  3. D Says:

    Cool idea, but Duckworth was neither a scrub nor a benchwarmer -- he was an effective starting center on a very good team.

  4. Mark Says:

    What D said ... I was suprised to see Duckworth,
    And Chris Gattling who not amazing was an All star at one point (1 time all star the year before his cup of coffee with NJ?)

  5. Jeff James Says:

    The choices of Jim Jackson and James Edwards leave me scratching my head (considering how many 1000 point or close seasons they had)

  6. JeReMy Says:

    When is the BLAB coming back, was it cancelled mid-season?

  7. Neil Paine Says:

    BLAB shall return when the playoffs are over. We felt that topical playoff coverage would drive more traffic than a fictional fantasy league. But it will be back this summer.